NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS
Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258
Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/
May 1, 2014
Onward Christian Spacemen!! --- Or Not??!!
A Review of
Joe Chiappetta Star Chosen ( Self-Published, 2010)
126 pp $10.00 ISBN: 978-0-9644323-2-1
Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz
The Christians in this humorous science fiction tale, like Christians in real life, argue about all kinds of things among themselves, the central one in the story being whether or not evangelists should be sent to space colonies. Christians now have the opportunity to do so since the (anti-religious) Earth government has rescinded its ban on Christians traveling into space. The funniest of the anti-space arguments claims that any Christians in space will be left behind when the Rapture occurs. This is but one indication that, although the technology of the age has greatly advanced (they now have excellent spaceships and Virtual Reality games), the spiritual and theological condition of Christians has clearly not improved!
Although this portrayal is realistic, the framework of the story -- that the government deleted all history and the Bible from computers -- is lacking in verisimilitude. The story does have value in showing us the importance of knowing the Bible and history. Of course, the story does not claim to be "hard" science fiction -- the author designates it as "opera", a term which has now come into widespread use for non-hard sf.
The rapid construction of the special missionary spaceship was fun to read about, BUT this is followed by a let down in what transpires once it goes forth on its missionary journey. I would recommend reading the book up until the spaceship's launch and then putting it down. Also, if a film is to be made, omit the book's ending and show a glamorous ending with the spaceship blasting off into space, like a cowboy riding off into the sunset, with a pious voice proclaiming "Go ye into all the Cosmos and preach the Gospel".
Information on this and other books by the author is available on his blog http://www.joechiappetta.blogspot.com./
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